#BIGEASThoops Season Preview: Creighton Bluejays
By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
Do you think Maurice Watson Jr. is excited to welcome Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster to the Creighton backcourt this season? Just take a listen.
“We’re not only going to be the best backcourt in the BIG EAST, we’re going to be the best backcourt in the country,” Watson Jr. proclaimed.
If that’s true – or even close – it’s going to be fun to watch the Bluejays return to the top tier of the BIG EAST conference after a two-season hiatus. Last year, Creighton finished 20-15 overall and 9-9 in the league.
Foster, part of a strong newcomer class for head coach Greg McDermott, sat out last season as a transfer after earning second-team All-Big 12 honors as a freshman at K-State when he averaged 15.5 points. He followed that up by averaging 12.5 points in his sophomore season before leaving the Wildcats. Now he’ll team with Watson Jr., who burst on the BIG EAST scene last season when he became one of just seven players in the nation to log 490 points and dish out 225 assists. (Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis were two others).
So you can see why Watson is chomping at the bit to get the season started.
“I don’t know if my excitement level could ever match Maurice’s,” McDermott said. “But I like our team.”
But Foster isn’t the only shiny new toy in McDermott’s toy chest. There’s 6-11 Omaha native Justin Patton and 6-9 Martin Krampelj, who each sat out last year. Those two should see some minutes early as the Bluejays wait for 6-9 senior Zach Hanson to return from a knee injury.
But it’s not all about new faces at Creighton. The Jays also return supreme long-ball threat Isaiah Zierden, who bagged a team-best 70 treys last year, Cole Huff, who finished second on the team with 11.3 points per game, as well as key reserves Toby Hegner and Khyri Thomas.
“Obviously we have some experience and we have some key pieces back and we’re adding to that with a couple of guys who sat out last year (Patton and Krampelj) that I think can have an impact on our team,” McDermott said. “From a depth standpoint it’s the deepest team we’ve had and probably the most athletic team.”
The most talented since Greg’s son Doug was piling up points for the Bluejays a few seasons back?
“Yeah I think so,” McDermott said. “We’ll see how it plays out but the potential is there. Obviously you have to stay healthy and hope things go your way but I really like this team.”
Again, not nearly as much as Watson does as the superlative senior thinks the sky is the limit for Omaha’s team this season and he doesn’t mind telling anyone who will listen.
“We are deep at every position. This is a perfect team for a long NCAA Tournament run and I think the timing is perfect because we have one of the best coaches in the country,” Watson said. “I think this team can be one of the best teams in Creighton history. I think this team can go further than the teams with Doug. They made the championship game of the BIG EAST Tournament, but I think we’re going to win it. They made it to the second or third round of the NCAA Tournament, I think we’re going to the Elite Eight or Final Four. Everybody on the team has the same goal. When you have all our players, all our coaches, eight managers and 18,000 fans that believe in that, it makes it so much easier to go out there and play.”
It’s going to be fun in Omaha this year,” Watson Jr. said. “Come on out for some games.”